quotations roundup.

"i'm telling you, i'm quitting. that's it. i'm talking to my boss right now. yes i am. yes i am yes i am yes i am yes i am. okay bye, call me when you get this message!"

- rachel, on the phone with monica.

i need more friends like this - the ones who can give me advice without even being there. 

surely all this is not without meaning.

- melville, moby-dick.

this is why i'm going to continue to stalk my english major friends on facebook. i really, really love this.

you shall know.

just wanted to let you all know - i have noticed how i've seemed pretty sure about the nature of God lately. it might be my high opinion of myself, but i'm also thinking about how much it has to do with what i want God to be like. if God's not all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing, well - that's not the God i believe in. for what it's worth, i realize that i'm being kind of a know-it-all about this. but that's where i'm coming from on this blog.

i just called a friend to leave an excited voice mail, and her voice mail stopped in the middle and played my message back to me. i mean, what? did i sound too ridiculous? say "i meannnn" too much? [on listening, i decide that, in fact, i sound great.]

on a completely unrelated note, i love this article on gossip girl.

truth is mighty and will prevail.

yayyy for hearing martin sheen talk about how much he loves notre dame - oh, and also, hearing people from notre dame talk about how amazing he is. there's a video of him on the home page, too, but who knows how the hell the new site works. too many videos for me. he's so amazing, though, and graduation's going on right now, so stay tuned for more updates.

a very old, very good friend moved in this weekend, and i brought over some housewarming treats in a reusable jewel bag. and you know what she said when i gave them to her? "here, don't forget your democrat bag." love it. i love having friends who have been around long enough to re-start talking about politics, after we stopped talking about politics to save our friendship about seven years ago.

this is kind of like the time i was wearing my "army sister" sweatshirt and another friend told me that it made me look like a republican. i'm just the victim of all kinds of stereotypes, apparently.

:)

i sat down on the bus the other morning, and an old man in a newsies-style hat said, "i see you have a book, there." this was the beginning of a conversation about how you need to have a master's degree to earn any kind of money in this city. i'm starting to feel like random conversations with strangers are kind of normal.

npr + religion

so this is pretty interesting. i sat in the back of mass tuesday, WITH A PRIEST, and therefore got called out to do a reading. [which i like to do, but i'm just saying.] and then i had this one, which i don't remember hearing ever [you know, letter of james] but will be pretty useful, i think.

No one experiencing temptation should say,
“I am being tempted by God”;
for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

- James 1:12-18

[i was also inspired by this post from my blogpast that i stumbled on, umm, while reading my own blog. check out how semi-apologetic i am for writing about something you all might not be interested in. boy, THAT'S changed.]

so "all good giving and every perfect gift is from above." and God doesn't send us bad things to test us. i mean, some of the rest of the reading that i left out is pretty weird. but i like the sentiment, because i try to argue this all the time. i hate that some people have this image of God, trying to trick us or get us to trip up or sending us suffering as a test. this is one for the "harmful misconceptions that people have about God" file.

i've recommended or mentioned this a couple times, so here it is on the blog - "waiting for joe" from this american life a few weeks ago. it's kind of disturbing if you love God, but also a really really interesting take on religion.

also, you've got to read this gospel. same day. [what a weird day of readings.]

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

- Mark 8:14-21

i mean, this is a twofer. first, we have metaphor. i only wish that the disciples had used the word "literally." [as in, "i would literally die if that happened."] then, we have the disciples being stupid, which i love. i love that we're here 2000 years later like "what are the theological implications..." when it turns out the disciples had no IDEA what was going on, ever.

this blog post is actually more of a fastball.

There is a constant debate among baseball hitters who deal with the question, “If you could know what pitch was coming, would you want to know?”

this column about curveballs in life and in baseball is cheesy as hell. yessss baseball season! i love baseball, even as cubs fans make me long for the baseball fans in a certain less-cool midwestern city.

opinionator yesterday blogs about two opinions on gender aspects of hillary's campaign. i don't know enough about any of this to form a clear opinion. but i DO love the fact that it's getting more and more difficult to determine what a female candidate should be like. i think that gender is becoming less of an issue [as is race] as the issue goes on, or at least it's becoming more and more difficult to write about it. it's a good sign that these things are becoming less and less of an issue at all.

and here's something else i've been talking about for a long time...

Yet, Paulsen insists, parishes can’t afford not to welcome these Catholics at a significant moment of “settling,” such as marriage, baptism of a child or the decision to put down roots. “People are out there,” he said. “They’re spiritually hungry, but they want a place where they feel nurtured, not just where they’re told they are wrong. If they think they’re going to be yelled at, or put to sleep or just asked for money, they’re not going.”

maybe it's not a coincidence that it's in an article written by my friend greg? [not that any of you actually though i was writing any sort of impartial blog, or that i'm doing any kind of pretending that i'm well-read.] but this is what i'm talking about! i've heard a lot of stories about parishes doing marriage prep well, but also a lot of stories about them doing it unexcusably poorly. it makes me so mad. i mean, everyone's looking for something. if those of us in the business think that we have the connection to something greater that they're looking for, we need to present it in the best possible way. at the very least, we need to be authentic about how our faith calls us to treat other people. otherwise, when people say that this church stuff is all bullshit, we can't really blame them.

and, even though he's a brilliant and insightful writer about serious things, i'm still partial to greg's barbaro responds to fans. it's not even current anymore - like, who's barbaro again? but it still makes me giggle every single time.

you're going to love this.

you all have to hear this - this year's high school winner of the poetry out loud contest, reading "frederick douglass." what an amazing poem. and i mean, this girl has talent. "when it is finally ours..." it's difficult to hear something as amazing as this on the train when you don't have anyone to share it with, you know?

shut up, all of you. i didn't talk to any strangers about it. i didn't i didn't.

mothers' day?

actual conversation between my mom and my brother's friend, about another friend.

a: he... won't be joining us this morning.
mom: haha, is he still in bed?
a: he's in someone's bed...
mom: well. [pause] well, good for him!

count on my mom to smooth things over. as always.